IT programming books related reviews
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Oracle Pl/SQL Programming (Oracle Series)
Publisher: Oracle Pr
Authors: Scott Urman, Tim Smith
Rating: 5/5
Title: Oracle Pl/SQL Programming (Oracle Series)
Publisher: Oracle Pr
Authors: Scott Urman, Tim Smith
Rating: 5/5
THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ALL PL/SQL PROGRAMMERS. THE EXPLANATIONS ARE VERY BRIEF AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND, AND THE EXAMPLES ARE VERY CLEAR TO GRASP THE MEANING OF..WITH THIS BOOK, I GET TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN PL/SQL WHICH I THOUGHT WAS HARD TO MASTER. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK..
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 3/5
Title: Apache: the Definitive Guide (With CD-ROM)
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Ben Laurie, Peter Laurie
Rating: 3/5
As O'Reilly books go, Apache: The Definitive Guide is really rather weak. There's enough information to get an Apache installation up and running, but there's nowhere near enough depth for it to be called a 'definitive' guide. It's also a little out of date.A far better book is Wrox's 'Professional Apache' which covers everything the O'Reilly book does and much more.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 2/5
Title: Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: Hugh E. Williams
Rating: 2/5
My background - a little bit of perl, BASIC language, html.This book in the first 2 or 3 chapters walks you through as to 'what is PHP?', after that it becomes confusing, like what one reviewer have posted, the book becomes more of theoritical in its approach.I would highly recommend 'PHP and MySQL Web Development' for those who are looking for that 'step by step' approach. Nothing like PHP for Dummies but just an indepth guide to proper PHP scripting.The authors of 'Web Database Application' may be experts in PHP scripting but should need to develop their teaching ability.Needless to say, this book is gathering dust.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. Jason Gilmore
Rating: 3/5
Title: A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0
Publisher: Apress
Authors: W. Jason Gilmore
Rating: 3/5
-- but I don't have the needs that a serious PHP programmer does. All the basics seem to be here, in the form of examples. An experienced programmer can skip over the bumpy parts and fill in the blanks.
And there are lots of blanks. Boolean operators are introduced on page 60, including both bitwise and short-circuit OR operators. It gives an example of short-circuit behavior, but never really explains what that means. (If you never heard the term, "a OR b" in the short-circuit sense means "if a is true the expression as a whole is already true, so don't even evaluate expression b", and don't create all the output and side effects that b would have created.) Likewise, p.216 shows a use of include() that doesn't mean what you probably want, but fails to explain why incorrect usage is incorrect. Escape tag configuration is set on p.20, but there never is a clear description of how escape tags interact with the code. The section on Javascript gives examples of files with that and PHP together, but never really spells out the source-level interactions between them.
Also, there is only a little mention of some of the peculiar capabilities of an interpreted language, like being able to use character strings as variable names. This borders on (and sometimes blurs the line with) self-modifying code. There's a lot of potential power there, but you're on your own if you try to tame it.
On the whole, the book gave a uniform impression. It sounds like a pretty good explanation of material that the author just barely understands. There's plenty of code-by-example material here, so I can probably get everything done that I need to. Someone who really needed to understand the language in finest detail would not get what they want, however.
//wiredweird
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 5/5
Title: Learning PHP 5
Publisher: O'Reilly
Authors: David Sklar
Rating: 5/5
This book is fabulous! I've been programming PHP for some time now, though I've never tackled a large project. And I wasn't really sure how to do it, frankly, until stumbling across Mr. Sklar. After seeing him speak at the last O'Reilly Open Source convention here in Portland, and realizing I'd already read one of his other books, I decided to look at this one.
I was quite surprised! Usually O'Reilly's Learning titles are a little slow, but this one is Perfect. You start with the basics, and he's rather good at not telling you more than you really do need to know, and by the end of the book his examples have built on each other to the point that you have a wonderful and flexible library for passing data between forms, your app, and a database. His explanations are well written and not too wordy. You really come away with a much deeper understanding of the language than any other book I've read can provide.
I highly recommend this title. I'm giving it five stars. Keep up the great work, Mr. Sklar!
Product: Book Paperback
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
Title: Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming
Publisher: Wrox
Authors: Robert Vieira
Rating: 1/5
If you are looking for a Transact-SQL reference book this is NOT it. Perhaps it was my fault in buying a book based on the title "SQL Server 2000 Programming". I thought what I was getting was comprehensive text book with a lot of tricks and tips, and examples of how to program in SQL Server 2000. What was I thinking? I wish I had a nickel for every time I have looked the index for a certain topic, only to find it wasn't there. In a 1389 page book about SQL Server programming, you would expect to find a reference to `SET ROWCOUNT' somewhere it in. Well, guess what, it isn't there, at least not in the index. This is only one of many examples. I have yet to find any useful information in this book, yet its packed with verbiage. So I can only conclude it was written for someone else, and mis-titled. Wrox has dropped the ball with this book. Save your money, and don't waste your time with this one.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming
Publisher: Osborne/McGraw-Hill
Authors: Dejan Sunderic, Tom Woodhead
Rating: 5/5
Sunderic and Woodhead have written a gem of a book that can earn on place on almost every SQL Server 2000 developer's bookshelf, if not desk. Whether you are an experienced developer new to SQL Server, or an old hand upgrading to 2000, SQL Server 2000 Stored Procedure Programming will introduce you to the features you need to know about. The writing style is clear and easy to read, and the explanations clear, concise and comprehensive.The book starts with 3 chapters on the basics of SQL Server 2000. While not strictly necessary in a book aimed at developers merely upgrading to SQL Server 2000, it does ensure that the book is accessible to a broad range of developers. I believe any developer with a year or two of experience with SQL can pick up this book and get full value from it. However, even experienced developers should read these chapters; some of SQL Server 2000's new features are first explained here.Then we progress steadily into more detail of the SQL Server 2000 environment. The role of stored procedures in a scalable, high-volume environment is outlined along with an explanation of the tools available for designing, building and maintaining them. The TSQL language is outlined and the proper roles of batches, scripts and transactions is detailed. Throughout these chapters the new features of SQL Server 2000 are described, and their effect on recommended practices provided. Professional habits of error handling, debugging, and source-code management are described. Through a full and detailed understanding of the parts, we prepare to understand the whole. The real meat of the book is chapters 9 through 11. Almost a third of the text is here, discussing Stored Procedures, Triggers, and User-Defined Functions; Locking Strategies, Dynamic Queries, Nested Stored Procedures, and Use of Identity Values; COM and Web Interfacing, Job Administration, Email, Database Deployment, and Security; all of these and more are discussed in sufficient detail to provide a good grounding in their capabilities and limitations. Throughout these chapters, as for the entire book, the emphasis remains on professional practices and usages that demonstrate how to write "code for the ages". Code that will scale well; code that is easy to read, diagnose, and repair when problems arise.The book concludes with an excellent chapter on XML support in SQL Server 2000. It starts with a summary of XML, DFDs and Schemas, and Style Sheets, sufficient to allow a reader new to XML at least follow along with the discussion. Then it goes into details of why and how to receive recordsets from SQL Server 200 in XML, so as to facilitate publication to The Web or an intranet. The ease with which customization, and translation into HTML, can be accomplished is readily apparent from the authors' explanation. Any developers new to XML, who desires to easily publish database content, will find this chapter an invaluable introduction.A consistent thread through the book is "Professional Development". The examples, with occasional exceptions, are clearly adapted from real programs. The authors not only explain proper techniques for trapping, throwing, and reporting errors; they steadily lead by example. Developers in any scripting language, who think that consistent error checking is tedious or unnecessary, would do well to heed the authors' example.The book is not without flaws; two handfuls of minor typos could have been caught before printing. The most annoying, however, is Osborne's insistence on setting the code examples in a large typeface, double-spaced. While from their standpoint it bulks up the book a bit, it is most irritating for readers when a code sample stretches over several pages unnecessarily. For the longest examples, it almost makes them unreadable on paper. Fortunately, they are available online for more comfortable study. SMARTEN-UP OSBORNE!In Chapter 8, "Developing Professional Habits", Sunderic reveals his likely 'project', rather than 'product', orientation. I disagree on his dismissal of "pinning" in Visual Source Safe, because I believe it is a better way to manage configuration in a product-oriented environment. But the issue is peripheral to the book, and probably moot for those readers working in a project-oriented environment.One particularly nice feature is the use of boldface in the examples to highlight the point being illustrated. In lengthy examples, one can immediately pinpoint the code being discussed, and then expand one's focus to the surrounding code. It significantly improves the readability of the lengthy examples. Good Work.In conclusion, this book was a most enjoyable read that I expect to keep by my desk for quite some time.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server Backup and Recovery: Tools and Techniques
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Frank McBath
Rating: 5/5
Title: SQL Server Backup and Recovery: Tools and Techniques
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Frank McBath
Rating: 5/5
McBath's book highlights common problems and provides practical workarounds for Backup/restore
The Book shows some very cool tricks that make it possible to recover data that's lost due to media
failures. It also covers data recovery tricks by using indexes. It continues about explaining what
to do when you need to rebuild your machine from scratch. Common problems are discussed and workarounds
given. The book is full of examples and tips and tricks from REAL consulting, not rehashing a manual
or Books on line. These tips give the book even more value.What I liked most was that it describes using the GUI and T-SQL scripts. A GUI is nice but to really
hit the nail one should automate this and script it.
This is THE Backup/Restore book each SQL-Server DBA must have in his bag. READ it BEFORE disasater
happens. One can never be preperaed enough for situations like this.Last but not least there's an appendix with the Mohan/Narang paper This paper outlines
the ARIES Write Ahead Log protocol recovery mechanism that SQL Server uses.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: .NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jimmy Nilsson, Jimmy Nilsson
Rating: 5/5
Title: .NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2000
Publisher: Sams
Authors: Jimmy Nilsson, Jimmy Nilsson
Rating: 5/5
This book should have been entitled "Design of Enterprise Systems with emphasis on Stored Procedures". It really has little to do with VisualBasic or .NET, and more to do with proper large application design in the OO/SQL era.The author is obviously obsessed with Stored Procedures and makes a very good case for using them. In his systems, every application deals only with stored procedures and never performs SQL statements directly. Well, that's one way of doing it, but it introduces a whole lot of problems that were never really discussed too clearly.The book is an excellent resource not just for the theory but for practical code snippets you can [take] and use in your next huge, huge enterprise application.I say "huge, huge", because the sheer amount of overhead you will create in developing any applications based on this architecture is astounding. For anyone who started programming in COBOL, welcome to the world of Microsoft object-oriented programming! You will be spending 90% of your time worrying about coding things that have absolutely nothing to do with the application! Do we really want our application subject matter experts to have to worry about Shared Properties Managers, Object Construction, Threads, Object Pooling? Well, we have no choice if we go with .NET under Microsoft.
If you've stepped away from VisualBasic for a couple of years, welcome back to the new world of Microsoft's vision for a single language with many names. They call it VisualBasic now, but it's just C wearing a mask. Forget about rapid coding. Forget about type-independence. Forget about functions and subroutines. You're going to be spending most of your time memorizing the wall chart of COM objects and trying to learn yet another incarnation of VB that is as incompatible with the previous version as Java is with Fortran.Don't believe me? OK, use Visual Studio.NET to write a simple application that looks up a record in a table and says "Hello World".But I digress. The book's treatment of error handling, trace logging, concurrency locking, and other oft-neglected issues is very good and gives practical advice on how to do it. I will personally implement many of his suggestions. Many others I will pare down into a more manageable architecture for a company that does not have a multi-million dollar IPO worth of cash to burn through in the next 12 months.His critical analysis at the end of each chapter of the proposal presented in that chapter, on the basis of performance, scalability, portability, maintainability, reusability, testability, debuggability, interoperability, and other "ities" was very clever. I will use that, as well as "codability", "readability", "longevity", and "learning curve" to help evaluate what language I want to use in my next application. It might show an MS OO language to be the worst choice. Who knows?2 pet peeves:1. "Preventive" is the correct word. There is no such thing as "Preventative", because we do not preventate things. Wonder how that slipped past the spell checker that SURELY every writer nowadays has.2. "Errand" is running to the store to get something. "Errant" is something that has gone wrong. The entire sample application is built on a misuse of the word "Errand". But I forgive Jimmy because he is Swedish, and if I had to write a technical book in any of my 2nd languages, I would be hard pressed to get absolutely everything right.Good job, Jimmy.
Product: Book Paperback
Title: SQL Server CE Database Development with the .NET Compact Framework
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Rob Tiffany
Rating: 1/5
Title: SQL Server CE Database Development with the .NET Compact Framework
Publisher: Apress
Authors: Rob Tiffany
Rating: 1/5
I bought this book expecting it to be a book on development, best practices, deployment etc. This is a poor excuse for a T-SQL book. I am on page 180 so far and only the first 20 pages or so actually discuss anything halfway interesting. The author spends roughly 2-3 pages discusing the sql syntax of a select statement, then insert statement, then update statement etc on and on and on and on. I didnt buy this book to learn SQL. What about database synchonization between the PDA and a remote sql server via remoting or web services or best practices for resolving sychronization conflicts. How about something interesting and not so junior programmer. I have looked at the end of the book and it doesnt look like it will get better. If it does I will retract this review. Regardless I have just wasted 160 pages SO FAR on learning T-SQL over again. If you want to learn T-SQL I recommend O'Reilly's Transact-SQL Programming. If the author reads this I want my money back.
